Opinions

So I guess now, all the gloves are off? Unless you've been living in a cave, you would have heard of this bit of salacious news. The Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) has lodged a complaint with the Law Society against Lee Hsien Loong's sister-in-law, Lee Suet Fern (Suet Fern). She is, of course, the wife of Lee Hsien Yang, the brother of the PM.

The complaint was in relation to a case of possible "professional misconduct" with regard to her preparation of the final will of Lee Kuan Yew. Specifically, AGC claimed that Suet Fern purportedly "prepared the Last Will LKY and arranged for LKY to execute it, despite the fact that her husband, Hsien Yang, is one of the beneficiaries under the Last Will". This, AGC noted, placed her in a position of conflict.

The Lee siblings (including sister, Dr Lee Wei Ling) have been at odds as to what to do with the home of their parents at Oxley Road. Family members have weighed in on the issue through both mainstream and social media platforms. There appears to be no turning back and no repairs of this widening rift in the family.

Now that his wife is firmly in the sights of the AGC, Hsien Yang may finally put his foot down and be what many Singaporeans want him to be - a Mahathir-like figure with elan and authority that can save Singaporeans from the PAP. He has already proven to be a courageous man who stands up for what he believes in, supporting Leong Sze Hian in the defamation against him filed by Hsien Loong.  

Hsien Yang is a leader who commands the authority of the masses not through some "divine right" or "natural aristocracy" but through his humility and ability to connect with people. Those who served under him in the army had good things to say about him. Hsien Yang was a Brigadier-General, just like Hsien Loong.

Singaporeans are sick and tired of the elitist who wayang and are not connected to the ground. Just as Singaporeans clamoured for Dr Tan Cheng Bock, Singaporeans are now clamouring for Hsien Yang to stand up to unite Singaporeans against an arrogant, out-of-touch, PAP.

If you are reading this Hsien Yang, will you heed our call?

The writer, Kelvin, has no time for dramas but a lot of time for change.

Do you sometimes wonder why the elderly on the train or even buses aren't sitting down? A redditporean, MissCreepyStories started a thread regarding this topic. He weighed in with two very valid points such as them not being able to stand up from their seats when they reach their stop and them not daring to let go of the support poles to get to the empty seats.

You can read the full post here:

I did not realise how much of a challenge balancing on a moving MRT was for the elderly until I saw two incidents.

Incident 1: Elderly man couldn't get up from his seat without help

An elderly man was hesitant about taking a seat in the middle of the cabin even though someone offered an empty seat to him. He did so with some persuasion. 10 minutes later, I realised why he was hesitant. When the train was reaching his stop, he tried to stand up from his seat in the middle of the cabin. He was unable to get up from the seat by himself with no pole to hold onto. He was waving his arms and trying to stop himself from falling as he got up from the seat on just his two legs. The other commuters had to hold him as he was in danger of falling down.

Incident 2: Elderly man didn't dare to walk to an empty seat

Another elderly man was standing in the MRT cabin, surrounded by at least three empty priority seats. I was wondering why he chose to stand, when an auntie started to prod him to sit down in one of the empty priority seats. It turned out that he was afraid of let go of the pole he was holding on to. There was a young man leaning against the partition who was just slightly blocking his path to the empty seat. Just letting go of the pole and navigating that little detour on a moving train was a huge challenge to the elderly man.

We don't understand the problems of the elderly because we have never been in their position and we look at things from our lenses instead.

Even I do that. I have a 70-year-old mother. I was out shopping with my Mom. I was right behind my Mom. My Mom had turned her head away for a second and there was a little girl (maybe eight-years-old) who walked into our view from our left. She was going to collide with my Mom in one second. I saw the little girl nearing Mom, and in that split second, I remembered what I was thinking. I was like, ah, Mum will be okie. If that small little girl had walked into me from the side, I would be fine.

Instead, what happened was that my Mom literally bounced off the little girl as if the little girl was a rock. My Mom lost her footing completely. I was like WTF and I grabbed my Mom's arm. I had misjudged the situation because I had looked at things from my lenses instead of my Mom's. The elderly are really fragile.

If you see an elderly person on the train, you might want to offer to hold their arm to get to a seat or something. Some of them are too embarrassed to admit that they need help with something as simple as walking across a moving train floor or getting up.

Usually, many Singaporeans find that many of the elderlies are entitled and demand for seats on the trains. But this redditporean sure opened up the minds of many others with this post. However, even if the elderlies were being entitled, we should still show some respect to them and help them in any way we can.

An ang moh woman was caught on camera giving a taxi driver the middle finger while she was crossing the road. In the footage uploaded on Saturday by a taxi driver named Jaymes, the woman was seen crossing the road junction with no traffic lights or pedestrian crossing.

According to the driver, he was slowing down to make a right turn at the junction heading towards a carpark when he noticed an ang mo woman walking and crossing the junction with her headphones on, and most likely not paying attention to where she was. So the taxi driver gave a gentle tap on his taxi horn, to let the jaywalker know of his presence. However, instead of hurrying off to safety, the woman flashed her middle finger at him, as if she had done nothing wrong.

The cabby then commented that next time, she might not be so lucky, as some drivers might not slow down when turning, and the woman ad her middle finger might get mowed down. Which, judging by the idiotic response to the ang moh woman, might not be such a bad thing after all.

An ST forum writer lamented the sorting of recruits by their educational levels by Mindef during their national service, for the different batches. In making this assertion, the writer, John Lim Le Sheng, drew from his own personal experiences in NS.

According to Lim, recruits from the ITE were normally excluded from the "leadership batch of recruits" who normally go on to leadership roles such as officers and sergeants. Lim recalled that he did not have a lot of contact with soldiers from ITE until after he graduated as a sergeant. He found them to be more dedicated and hardworking compared to his fellow specialists.

He raised 2 pertinent, inter-related issues. Firstly, that academic performance still matters in NS. Secondly, this practice excludes those less academically inclined from receiving leadership training which may be beneficial to them in the future. For Lim, these are significant drawbacks towards tackling social inequalities and making our society a more equitable one.

These are great observations. Indeed, NS has always been sold as a social-leveller where Singaporean men from all sorts of race, religious, social, and economic backgrounds come together in defence of the country. 

However, the truth is not as simple as that. Very few people from the ITE become leaders in the army, compared to those with JC or polytechnic backgrounds.

This has significant impact on our army. We are not necessarily placing the best and most capable people in the correct positions. There are even cadets who struggle with their IPPT. Then you also have the scholars. 

What does this signal to those from ITE? If even in the army they are marginalised from leadership positions because of their academic results, what can they expect from society? How will this shape their world views as young adults?

If Singapore is serious about tackling social inequalities, this practice needs to reviewed.

The writer, Kelvin, is not a leader in NS.

New year, new resolutions. But some old resolutions remain unfulfilled. Do you have any resolutions that you gave up on or that you forgot about? We Singaporeans seem to have forgotten about being more civic-minded, treating one another as a fellow human being worthy of respect. Where has our civic-mindedness gone too?

We are not unreasonable people but sometimes we act like we are. 

There are many ways to improve our civic-mindedness - in our neighbourhoods, our parks, our hawker centres, the libraries, our workplaces, in our schools, in the MRTs, and on the roads. The default mode for us seems to be every man for himself. I cannot give way to you on the road because it will waste my precious 3 seconds. I cannot wait for you to exit the MRT because then I'll be deprived of an additional 5 seconds of air conditioning. I cannot clear my plates and trays at the hawker centres because there are cleaners who are paid to do exactly that. I cannot give my maid too much food and freedom because then she won't work properly. I cannot say good morning to my neighbours in the lift because I don't really want to be friends with them. There's an accident but instead of stopping to help, there are hordes slowing down for that opportunistic photo opportunity. There's an ambulance with sirens blaring but no one gives way

It's a zero-sum, every-man-for-himself kind of game that we are playing in our own heads. To be the most-est kiasu-est one that comes out on top so that no one else can.

That is an unfortunate attitude to adopt. What has become of us?

There are indeed things that we need to put our game faces on, where we need to be competitive. Taken out of those context, do we really need to be as competitive and make enemies of others, throwing our manners and civic-mindedness away?

When you let people alight from the train first, it will be faster that everyone trying to squeeze in and out at the same time. When we clear our plates or trays, it helps to lessen the physical burden on the older workers. People won't call you stupid for clearing your trays. Neither will you be an instant hero. What you get is a life that is not as stressful, or outright irritating.

So this year, try it. Smile and make someone else smile.

The writer, Faith, is civil and mindful.

It is not uncommon for Singaporeans to see old people pushing cardboard trolleys early in the morning. The pieces of cardboard that we leave at the void deck disappear in the blink of an eye. Our older generation have worked hard all their lives but have to resort to collecting cardboards to make a living. Just what is wrong with our society today? Is the government helping them enough? Or are they self-sufficient and simply exercising, like some would say?

Facebook posts of old people doing their "morning exercises" are becoming common. Last month, someone posted about an old woman who hopped from hawker to hawker until late at night. A few days ago, another old woman was spotted at Jurong despite having weak legs. She just wanted to earn enough to buy food for herself.

It is amazing how the government claims that they are helping our older generation and introducing all kinds of packages to benefit them. If they are really doing a good job, why do we still see so many of them plying the streets in the hot sun, in the wee hours, so that they have enough to eat? Surely something must be wrong.

To drive in the point further, the authorities do not seem to care much about consulting old hawkers about how to run an enterprise properly. Despite their grievances, the so-called social enterprise is of course still in the works. Lately, NTUC has announced that it will stop giving older people discounts next year. 

They call this helping? 

To those who are high up in their air-conditioned ivory offices, helping the older generation is not just about identifying a group of people and giving them some money. It is about walking the ground more often, going to different places outside your "ground", talking to people, listening to them and spending meaningful time with Singaporeans. Not those who want to see you, but those who are in the shadows that they usually fail to see. 

Our politicians today lack heart. They may claim to have good intentions but man, it's hard to feel it. Good luck to us all in the years ahead. We may find ourselves living in a bleak cardboard town rather than the vibrant hub we strive to be.